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Rove Is Right

By RICH LOWRY

May 14, 2014

The Bill Clinton reelection campaign in 1996 feasted on contrasts between the new and old, and the future and the past in its lopsided bout with the septuagenarian Bob Dole. As Clintonite Jack Quinn said, oh so subtly, a Dole speech was “tired, old, worn-out rhetoric.” Only a sense of decorum prevented Quinn from adding, “and redolent of the bingo room at the local retirement home.”

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The age issue was so upfront that Time magazine ran a cover asking “Is Dole Too Old for the Job?” The New York Times ran a thumb-sucker wondering, “Is Age-Bashing Any Way to Beat Bob Dole?” and noting, “Racism and sexism have long been taboo in mainstream American politics, but in this Presidential campaign there is a high tolerance for ageism.”

Of course, age is hardly dispositive. Ronald Reagan was the oldest president at age 70 in 1981 and embodied an invigorating optimism despite his years. But age was an issue for him in 1980 and 1984, and a particular threat in the 1980 nomination fight. Craig Shirley, author of books about Reagan’s campaigns in 1976 and 1980, told Byron York of the Washington Examiner that when Reagan had a light schedule in 1979, it led to rampant questions about whether he could handle the rigors of campaigning. It wasn’t until Reagan fully engaged on the campaign trail that he put the concerns to rest with demonstrations of his vigor.

Hillary can potentially trump all this with openness about her medical records, and with an energetic and future-oriented campaign, should she run. Her supporters, in the meantime, hope to deflect any questions with cries of ageism and sexism. It will be a nice change of pace to move on from racism as the Democratic rejoinder of choice to other -isms that have been neglected over the past eight years.